At A Loss
by EnderDragon21
Summary: How did this happen? Why? What's going on? A angsty fic about Danny and Vlad **NO POMPOUS PREP. I can't write summaries *flops arms around* It's about Danny's parents finding about his secret Need I say more?
1. Chapter 1

**At a Loss**

**Danny Phantom**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.**

You could say that Danny's life was, well, destroyed. His parents knew about the whole Fenton-Phantom secret. But not only that, but they found out about it in just about the worse possible way.

After a really destructive battle.

Well, you'd probably think _'how's that the worst way?'_ During the battle (with Plasmius, of course he had to show up, that fruitloop), Danny had messed up a couple shots. And by a couple, I mean a_ lot._ It wasn't even his fault, really, because Plasmius was using his teleporting abilities a lot today, and then there's the fact that he got barely any sleep last night.

Stupid ghosts.

Anyway, during the little fight, which went on for about 25 minutes, a pretty long time for a fight, even with Vlad (when he wasn't kidnapping his family or friends, trying to kill his dad, and trying to get Danny to join him, which was about 95% of the time). About twenty minutes in, Danny was just having a hard time fighting, and, not wanting to cause too much destruction, was trying not to use his ghostly wail. But, he did anyway. There weren't many people around, and those who were (a stupid camera crew, possibly some ghost hunters somewhere looking for him) were a few hundred feet away.

As he got ready to use his wail, he slowly dropped closer to the ground. He would make sure he didn't turn human (yeah, _right_.), but he was sure that he wouldn't be able to keep himself in the air. He looked towards Plasmius, who had only a couple scratches on him from being thrown to the ground a couple times, and let loose the ghostly energy.

Now is probably a good time to say that Danny didn't see his parents, who were roughly a hundred feet behind him (thanks to the GAV), watching with interest. They were going to capture him, but were now taking a different approach. He was already wounded pretty bad, so they just watched, getting information on his attacks, weaknesses, and such from the fight.

The ghostly wail drained Danny, more than he thought it would. So, as he tried really hard to not turn human, Vlad approached him, slightly hurt, but not enough to make him weak enough to give up. He had no idea what the attack was, but it was obviously Daniel's most draining, and probably new. He didn't know that Danny was about to turn human. He didn't know just how drained Danny was.

Taking this weak point as his advantage, Vlad shot a not-too-powerful ecto-blast at the boy, thinking he would just deflect it and fly away.

He _didn't_.

The small blast hit Danny full force, and for a moment, it was extremely silent, and still, like Clockwork had stopped time at that moment. But then, a half-second after he was hit, Danny cried out in pain. Vlad's eyes were opened wide, surprised. _What was wrong with the boy?_

That's when the rings appeared.

Vlad raced over, a little concerned for the health of the boy. Why was he turning back? What kind of power was that, one that seemed to shut off the boy's concentration and body? As the rings went past his collar, there was a short intake of breath that Vlad only heard because of the enhanced hearing ghosts had. He looked up to see Maddie several yards away, staring at the back of the shirt that she knew was Danny's._ Was the ghost stealing from them?_ Was her first thought.

The rings vanish when the transformation is complete.

A mix of shouts,

A few "_Daniel_!"s, a couple "Danny!"s, and other names such as "Phantom?", _"Fenton!?_", and "Danny Fenton!"

A woman running up to the boy, accompanied by a man.

An unbelieving look,

accompanied by one which held distrust

A hand

Darkness

Light

The sound of a gun blazing...

No... More than one...

Shouts, back and forth,

Anger

Sadness

Distrust

Concern

What was _wrong _with him?

Wind.

Flight?

Darkness.

Sleep.

**Hehehe, mad? Confused? What happened (or is happening) to Danny, why wasn't Vlad effected by the wail too much? What's with the POV switch?**

**Well, about the single words and phrases, it was Vlad's POV, then Danny's, who was-wait, I can't say that! Anyway, like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Hope I die? Want me to continue? Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**At A Loss Chapter 2**

**Danny Phantom**

**I have a disclaimer in the first chapter, and I'm not going to repeat it. Need to see it? Go to the first chapter.**

When Danny woke up... Well... His head hurt like h*ll. Of course, his first impulse was to shoot up, not recognizing the bed he was in.

It was a bad decision.

He cried out slightly, the pain in his head rocketing. He dropped back down, wincing. _Okay... Let's try another tactic..._ He sat up, slowly this time, trying his best to ignore the pain in his head.

That just got him to realize something else.

Danny groaned and wrapped his arms around his middle. _What the..._ He didn't understand. Where had he gotten so hurt? When had it happened?

Then, he remembered.

Vlad.

His wail.

White Rings-

_People_.

Danny gasped, just another noise that could alert somebody that he was awake. But he didn't care. What he did care about was the pain in his head, legs, abdomen-well, everywhere, and the fact that he turned human _in front of other people-_

It was too much for the small Halfa to take. His hands started shaking, and as he curled into a ball on the unfamiliar bed, he realized that he was crying. _Crying_. The town hero, now known, probably, as Danny Fenton, was _crying_. He almost chuckled at the thought, but then he cringed, the very _thought_ of noise clanging hard inside his head.

_ Wait_, his brain said after a second. _What about my-_

Danny's eyes were probably as round as dinner plates right then, as the realization hit him. His parents had to know about his-about his-

The door opened and somebody came in. Danny didn't really process this. He didn't process anything right then. He didn't think about the fact that he was crying. He didn't think about the person who just came in, and who he was. Danny didn't think about where he was. All he could think about was the fact that his parents-the ghost hunters that hated Danny Phantom, which was him-knew about his secret, and that he wasn't home. And that could only mean one thing.

Vlad was a busy man. He rarely had time for free time, or any kind of social evens that don't involve politics, and definantly no time for children or such.

Yet here he was, at his house, while an important meeting was being held, when he was supposed to be there, as the mayor of Amity. Why? Well, it was because of Daniel's little... _issue_.

In all honesty, Vlad felt **bad** for Daniel. Of course, he had no idea how draining that stupid power would be. He hadn't known that that ecto-blast would trigger Daniel's human half. Yet, why did he feel so bad about it? He battled the younger half-ghost all the time, didn't he?

Well, you might be confused on just what happened there, at the end. Obviously, they had a fight, Daniel used his little 'ghostly wail', Vlad shot him, transformation. But, what you don't know is that, during the wail, and after, many people had come, so almost the whole town was there. Now, Maddie and Jack didn't take the information well. After the battle and all the destruction that Daniel had caused, they were biased even more than usual.

They had immediately stormed up to the boy, guns blazing, and demanded that Phantom stopped 'using their son as a human puppet'. It was then when Vlad realized that they had guns pointed at _his_ little badger. He knew that those two thought (well, knew) that if a ghost was overshadowing a person, you could shoot the person with some kind of ecto-weapon, making the ghost evacuate, and leaving the human with minimal damage. That was probably what they were about to do to Daniel, but without the whole 'no harm' and 'separates ghost' thing.

They had their guns blazing, about to shoot. Just a few seconds. Then they shot their ecto-weapons at the unsuspecting boy. The smoke cleared a few seconds later to reveal a very ticked-looking Vlad Plasmius behind a magenta ecto-sheild and the two ghost hunters were back and raging. A "You're involved with this, too, _ghost_?!" from Maddie and a "Get away from my son!" from Jack could be heard in sync.

Vlad had, of course, blocked the blow. Unknown to the boy's parents, the twin blows would have been fatal to Daniel in the condition he was in. Vlad wasn't really sure what had happened at that moment. It was as if his fatherly side for Daniel overthrew his love for Maddie and his ghost/business side. He remembered shouting, his defending, Daniel's parents accusing and frightful.

But then, everything seemed to click in the two's minds.

Vlad had understood that their views went from 'This ghost is trying to take over our son' to 'This ghost _is_ our son' in less than a second. Now, Vlad would actually be utterly happy to say that they dropped their guns, ran over to Danny, and started crying and apologizing to their son, and that Danny was gleeful and had a good life.

Sadly, that is _not_ what happened.

Again, their viewpoints changed, but only about three seconds from the last time, and it went from 'This ghost is our son' to 'This piece of ectoplasmic slime is _not_ our son anymore'. Their eyes narrowed, their guns were aimed, and they held their own angered expressions. Maddie's, calculating, sad, and ticked-off, Jack's, angry, experimental, and ready to rip the ghost apart. Both had scared Vlad to no end, not that he'd shown it or would ever say.

It was then when he realized that the Maddie he loved was gone, and that these two lunatics would never have the boy again.

He had grabbed the boy, albeit carefully, held him bridal style, and taken off into the night within a few seconds. There were angry shouts, a few sighs, and some sad gazes.

The worst and most memorable gazes were four in the crowd, Samantha Manson's, who looked like she was just about to cry, but then murder Daniel's parents and kill Vlad for taking the boy, Tucker Foley's, who just looked hurt and wishing so much that he could have done something, Dash Baxter's, who's mouth was gaping open, eyes sad in realization, and, the one that Vlad wished that Daniel could have seen (he was dead still and quiet in the air), Jazz Fenton's, his sister's, which was full of disbelief, anger, sadness, loathing, and a trust and _hope_ for Vlad. He had never expected the trust. And neither had you, probably.

There Vlad was, again, in his house. Waiting for the poor boy to wake up. After a few hours, he had left the boy's room, hoping to finish some paperwork while he was away, but he couldn't concentrate. He just kept thinking back to those six gazes, the friends', the family's, and the bully's.

Vlad would have never expected the utter trust in the young miss Fenton's stare as she looked at him. It had clearly said, as if it was a beacon, 'help my brother, and don't let those monsters get him.'

The elder halfa would have contemplated it more, if not for the groan that he'd heard come from the room a couple doors down. Yes, of course he put the boy in a room close to his study! He had been both dreading the point when he woke up and impatient about it, and now he didn't know what to think. He certainly didn't expect Daniel to jump into his arms and yell "uncle Vlad!" Or something stupid.

No, the billionaire expected something more like an accusing "Where am I and why did you take me here?" So, when he entered, he was just utterly shocked to see the boy, looking the worst he had ever seen him, crying, curled up in a ball. Daniel's gaze was straight forward, apparently ignoring Vlad or not noticing him.

Vlad slowly made his way to the side of the bed. He kneeled down to the boy's level and said softy "Daniel?" The younger had responded by looking at him, his eyes slightly glazed over, muttering a small "oh..."

Vlad was... Well, surprised. The boy wasn't reacting in any way he thought the boy would. He thought the boy would have punched (or attempted to punch) him in the face or something of the sort. He tried again, "...Little badger?"

He knew Daniel hated that name. Yet, he barely responded, only with a slight shift of his eyes, looking at the blanket instead of the man's face. Vlad was about to try and get a different response, like a normal Daniel one, when he had said "...What d-do you want?" The younger halfa's voice had cracked slightly halfway through, making the man wince. "I don't want anything, Daniel, other than some kind of indication that you are, in fact, the boy that I was fighting earlier." But he still got nothing.

**Hm, confused? More so? Less? Hate it, love it? Would you be so kind as to review? Maybe? And I don't want little excuses of reviews that only show the good, I want to know anything wrong with it. Bad grammar, do you think, too OOC characters, bad plot, good plot? Please let me know.**


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